The announcement, described as a “friendly merger” in an EL&C Baillieu report, is tipped to be rubber-stamped at the Federal Court today.

Bendigo Mining shares were popular with Bendigo residents and were valued at $4 in the early 1990s and about $2.50 in 2006, according to Baillieu Holst senior investment advisor David Ritchie.

Mr Ritchie said the merger appeared to be a positive step for Unity shareholders.

Shares in Unity sat around 13c at 5pm yesterday according to figures on the Australian Security Exchange website.

Unity Mining managing director Andrew McIlwain said a large number of the company’s shareholders were still in Bendigo.

“We’ve got quite a large shareholder base that are Bendigo residents,” he said. “The objective is to double from 50,000 ounces of gold to a production profile of around 100,000 ounces per annum.”

Unity owns and operates the Henty Gold Mine in Tasmania, holds tenure over the Bendigo Goldfield and has investments in a company undertaking gold exploration in West Africa.

The merger, which was announced in September 2012, will give Unity access to Cortona’s Dargues Reef development.

Cortona lists 233,000 ounces of gold reserves and resources of 327,000 ounces at the site and said the merged company would have a combined 735,000 ounces of gold reserves and 350,000 ounces of resources.

Cortona shareholders will receive .734 of one Unity share for each Cortona share.

Mr McIlwain said the merged shares would be issued to Cotrona shareholders following the court hearing.